Staff at a Pretoria Hospital say that working conditions are deteriorating as they wait for the Gauteng Department of Health to replace the CEO who had left at the end of October.
The Citizen reports that although the department says there are plans “in place” to ensure the smooth running of the facility, sources claim they have been left in limbo for the past month, and with no clear communication about the situation.
The CEO of the University of Pretoria Oral and Dental Hospital left at the end of October, after having notified staff she would not be renewing her contract.
Although it's affiliated with the university for training and research, the facility is managed by Gauteng Health.
Staff said that obtaining information for both themselves and patients has become a problem, leading to monthly reports detailing complaints and escalations in infections, with patient admin and accounting information collecting dust instead of being sent to head office, as required.
“Those reports are sitting in the quality assurance manager’s office and cannot be sent because they have not been approved by the CEO,” a source alleged.
Additionally, and crucially, medications that must be ordered for patients cannot be ordered “because they need the signature or the approval of the accounting officer, which we don’t have”, the source added.
Appointment pending
The department told The Citizen a acting CEO had been appointed, and that it was in the process of filling the position. “It will be filled by the end of January,” it confirmed.
However, sources claim that as of the morning of 21 November, no communication regarding a temporary solution had been received.
Patients are also irate about their being no one steering the facility.
“When I asked where the CEO’s office was so that I could escalate my complaint or for them to at least give me the email of the CEO, I was told the CEO had resigned and there is no acting CEO and that no one was able to account on behalf of the CEO,” one said.
While the department has been asked to expedite the issue, Gauteng Health’s head of department (HoD) Darion Barclay has only been in office for just more than six weeks after the suspension of Lesiba Malotana, in the wake of the SIU’s report on corruption at Tembisa Hospital.
The former HoD had asked the Labour Court to set aside his suspension but the decision was upheld.
The Citizen article – Vacancy threatens to throw Pretoria hospital into further chaos (Open access)
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Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital still without CEO – seven years later
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